Alias Mars
by Michael Weyer
Summary: Veronica's investigation into the bus crash leads to a much bigger mystery with a new partner. Crossover with Alias.
1. The Calm Before the Plunge

Alias Mars

An Alias/Veronica Mars crossover

By Michael Weyer

Alias owned by ABC, Veronica Mars owned by UPN. Don't sue me, I've got nothing to give.

As a major fan of both shows, this stuck in my head and I just couldn't get rid of it. This is my take on the truth of the bus crash so don't be surprised by how it differs from the show.

For Veronica, it takes place just before the election and before Wallace's dad shows up. Now, because of the two-year jump in the "Alias" timeline, 2005 would be the fourth season where Vaughn is still alive (Yay!).

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Plunge

Picking up the phone on the third ring, Veronica Mars spoke into it. "Hello, Mars Investigations, how may I direct your call?"

"What's with the formal tone?" Keith Mars' voice came on the other end.

"Oh, just practicing," his daughter said as she leaned back in the chair inside her father's office. "You know my ultimate plan is to become the next Carolyn Kepcher."

"Honey, you know I don't like 'The Apprentice.'"

"Well, no one does anymore so you're not alone. So, how's San Diego?"

"Dry and cool."

"Ah, just like the martini I'm drinking now. Any luck with the rundown?"

"Don't say 'rundown.' It reminds me of that movie you rented with that wrestler that I didn't like."

"Philistine."

"Anyway, hope to have this guy tracked down by tonight, be back sometime tomorrow. How's things over there?"

"School is still normal, in the tenth circle of hell kind of way. Substitute French teacher who's apparantly the oh-la-la among the bimbo set. Oh and new clerk in the office who seems wrong for the job."

"Getting outside high school, any other important matters?"

"Ah, nothing too major. Car accident, robbery, a suicide but nothing too hectic."

"All that in one week? Boy, get fired as sherrif and the whole town falls apart."

After chuckling, Keith went on. "Staying out of trouble?"

"You know me."

"Then the answer's no. What are you getting into now, Veronica?"

"Nothing major. Some hacker's trying to get into the school system and fix some grades, probably for cash. So, figure I'll track it down."

"And what are you getting out of this?"

"An everlasting place in the yearbook?"

"Try again."

"Leeway for having to cut geometry for a stakeout last month?"

"That's my girl. I'll call back soon. Love ya."

"Love you too, Dad," Veronica said as she hung up. She perused the folder before her. It was one she had been checking on for some time now. It was the file on all the information about the bus crash. Veronica was almost sure that she was the target, that it was the work of Aaron Echolls. That all those people died because of her lay a guilt trip on Veronica worse than anything she could imagine. She needed to know the truth and nothing would stop her from getting it.

Neptune High was your typical high school, with its class status and the way teens ran with their own packs. It took a lot to be an outsider but Veronica managed it quite well. Truth to tell, it was starting to bother her a lot less than it once did. It wasn't like she missed that much of that life to be honest, aside from Lilly of course. And it wasn't like she was totally alone here.

"Hey, Nancy Drew!" Wallace said as he came up to her.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Wallace, how many times do I have to tell you…"

"Hey, soon as they come out with another teenage slueth on TV, that's the best name," the black teen replied. "So what's up with the Miss Marple gig?"

Veronica stared at him. "I don't know what's more amazing: that you read Agatha Christie or you're comparing me to a sixty-year old Englishwoman."

"Seriously, what's on the clock today?"

"Classes, then checking with Mac on that computer lead," Veronica replied as she came to her locker. "But first, I need to check in with the office, the usual paper delivery."

"And they say detective's lives are dull."

"'Charlie's Angels' has nothing on me," Veronica said as she walked toward the office.

"Hello?" Veronica said as she came up to the desk. "I'm Veronica Mars. I was supposed to pick up some standarized test forms?"

The woman behind the desk looked up. She was in her late twenties and obviously very beautiful even dressed down with glasses set on her nose. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a drab black dress with heels. She made a goofy smile at Veronica. "Oh, yeah, I remember you," she said in a slightly ditzy tone. "I'm Sherry."

"Right," Veronica said, not wanting to spend too much time with the woman. "So, ah, the tests?"

"Oh, oh, right!" Sherry spent a few moments rummaging through the desk, pushing aside piles of papers and notes. As Veronica waited, she saw the substitue French teacher on the other side of the office, going over some files. She had to admit, he was a babe: Same age as Sherry with short dark hair, strong features and a nice body clad in slacks and a dark golf shirt. _Hmmm….maybe I outghta check out French after all._

"Okay, here we go!" Sherry called out as she pulled out a folder, knocking over a shelf of papers in the process. "Oh, geez! I'm sorry, such a butterfingers…"

"Hey, no foul," Veronica said, taking the folder. "Good luck with the job." She turned to march out of the office and thus missed how Sherry was gazing after her with a look of intelligence that belied her demeanor.

Being an ace student was pretty much a prerequiste if one wanted to be a detective. With her keen memory and reading skills, Veronica was able to balance her studies with her investigative work and used her class time to mull over her current cases.

A wise investigator, her father was fond of telling her, always knew their limitations. Which was what brought Veronica to the computer lab after school to meet up with her unoffical tech support expert. "Hey, Mac."

Mac smiled at Veronica. She was a pretty but shy girl with long brown hair streaked with blue and wore black jeans and shirt with a jacket thrown to one side. She was seated before a computer, tapping away at the keys. "Hey, Veronica. I've been going over the system and…well…something's not right."

"You find the hacker?" Veronica asked as she came over.

"Huh? Oh, sure, that was no problem," Mac said with a wave of her hand. "No, I found something else inside the system that shouldn't be there."

"Okay," Veronica frowned as she sat next to her. "What is it? And remember, while I'm good with internet searches and photoshop, I've got a low tech-savvy level."

Mac pointed at the screen. "Okay, to keep it simple, it looks like someone's ingrained a new program deep inside the system. It's quiet now but seems ready to be activated at a certain command from another server. It's connected all over the school and the administration's system as well."

Veronica rubbed her chin. "Hmm…weird."

"That's not all," Mac said. She typed a couple of keys and brought up what looked like some sort of map of Neptune. Another tap and a bright red line went from the school to a small building in the town's center. "This is where I've narrowed down where the signal is originating from."

Veronica nodded. "Well, then. Looks like I'm going signal hunting."

"Do you want me to go with?" Mac asked. "You might need some help with the technical stuff."

Veronica paused. "I don't know. I'm usually better on my own."

"Aw, come on!" Mac whined. "I really have nothing else going on in my life, you know. This is the most excitement I get without having to play EverQuest online."

Veronica paused to think about it. On the one hand, bringing along someone with so little experience in detective work could be dangerous. On the other hand, it might actually help to spread out the work a bit. "Okay, then. Bring up the laptop and let's go to town."

Neptune was not exactly a high criminal area, despite what Veronica had seen in her many cases. Thus lock-picking the rear of the ramshackle store wasn't a hard task. She unlocked the back and slowly swung it open. She smiled at Mac as she pocketed her small lockpick device. "My favorite Christmas present."

"Wow, this is exciting," Mac said as they entered. "I feel like a spy here."

"Detectives are cooler," Veronica said as she took out a small penlight and turned it on. "We have to get by on smarts alone and not rely on ass-kicking." She carefully stepped around, her tennis shoes squeaking a bit on the floorboards. She swept the penlight around and nodded. "Hmm…for an abandoned store that hasn't been rented out in nearly four months, the dust factor is quite light."

"No spiders? Good, I don't like spiders that much," Mac stated as she did her best to emulate Veronica's slow stalking motions. The penlight swept over to a table at the rear and stopped. "Well, well," Veronica stated. "Looks like the jackpot, she is found."

"Wow," Mac whispered. She moved up, brushing past Veronica and to the table. Lying on it was a large and quite advanced computer system with a large monitor and three laptops, a laser printer and some large box-shaped devices. Veronica didn't know too much about the system but evidentally Mac did.

"Oh, wow," Mac repeated as she circled the table. Her fingers reached out, grazing the computer almost revelantly. "This is…oh, man, this is stuff that shouldn't even be out yet! Seriously, this is a system way beyond what's available! Believe me, I've looked!"

_Here we see the geek female in her habitat._ Veronica gazed carefully at Mac. "Um, Mac, I think you're drooling."

Mac instinctively wiped her mouth. "Oh, sorry. I just can't believe someone's got something so advanced in a place like this." She pulled back the chair and sat down, moving to the keyboard.

"Ah, Mac, maybe we should hold back a bit…" Veronica started but Mac was already typing on the keys. Veronica sighed. _What should I expect? It's like putting Brando before a buffet or Logan before the Sports Illustrated bikini issue. _She watched as Mac brought up a screen and typed a few commands. A slew of information flew before her. "So what are we looking at?"

Mac typed on the screen more. "Well, this is definitely the source of that signal. Now I just need to figure out what it is."

Veronica nodded and backed up. "Ok…I'll go hunting for anything that could indicate who owns this place." She turned and swept her penlight around again. _Either someone is opening the most low-key computer café of all time or there is some sinister shannigangs going on in Neptune._ All she could see was clean floors and no signs of anyone being around recently. "Any luck?" she called over her shoulder.

"I'm trying," Mac said. "Someone's got some big time blocks here, it's taking a bit to-----" Her voice suddenly caught off with a sharp gasp.

"Mac?" Veronica whirled around to see Mac slumped over the keyboard. "Mac! What's wrong!" She moved forward and had taken two steps when she felt a sharp pain in her neck. She yelped and reached up, her fingers brushing on some sort of small protrusion on her neck.

Before she could realize what it was, Veronica felt a wave of exhaustion coming over her, the strength flowing from her body. Her knees gave way and she felt herself falling, both physically and into a deep black hole. She was already asleep by the time she hit the floor and knew nothing else.


	2. Tie Me Up, Dress Me Down

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part 2: Tie me up, dress me down.

The world slowly came back into focus in Veronica's head. A rush of sound filled her ears as if she was exiting from a tunnel. Her eyes slowly blinked open, adjusting to the burst of light, then the blurriness in her vision. She became aware of the pounding in her head as she slowly rose it up and tried to shake the fatigue out of her mind.

She tried to reach to rub her head but her arm didn't seem to want to move. Frowning, Veronica looked down and realized she was sitting on a chair. She shuffled in it, her hands behind her and she realized she was handcuffed to it. _O…kay. Here's hoping this is just a kidnapping and I haven't been recruited into some bondage club._ She turned her head to the side and saw Mac slumped in a chair next to her, still asleep.

"Oh, damn. Mac? Mac! Mac, wake up!" She managed to kick Mac's chair, shaking her. The young computer geek's eyes slowly opened and tried to focus. "Whoa," she murmured. "Who slipped the roofie?"

"Well, either some natives of the Amazon tribes have come up to the States and are bringing back the ancient art of blow darts," Veronica began. "Or someone hit us with a tranq gun."

"Who?"

"Not sure yet," Veronica said as she tested the cuffs on her wrists. "Damn, I knew I should have gone for that lesson in Houdini escapes when Dad offered."

The room was suddenly bathed in light as a door opened and a pair of men entered. One was muscular and tough-looking with a short crewcut and dressed in black slacks and shirt with jacket. The other was shorter, more average looking with a similar short cut and in a professional jacket and pants. He was holding a briefcase that he opened and set on a small stand nearby. Veronica and Mac exchanged nervous glances as the man seemed to rummage in the case before speaking.

"We already know your names from your ID we found on you." His voice was strong with the slight trace of an accent Veronica couldn't place. "We simply wish to know why you are here and who sent you."

"Don't suppose you'll buy I work for Amway, huh?" Veronica asked, her natural sarcasm coming to the fore. She'd used it plenty of times against suspects in the past. However, never had one suspect replied off the bat by smacking her hard across the face.

Veronica gasped in pain and surprise, rocking back in her chair. "Hey!" Mac yelled only to smacked herself. The man's face was cold as he glared at the two girls. "I am not in a mood for any childish games," he snapped. "I want to know exactly what you two are up to and who else knows you are here."

Veronica ran her tongue in her mouth, tasting her own blood. She tried to keep herself steady despite the foreboding filling her up. "You wanna know who knows we're here? My dad. You know, used to be the sheriff of this town, still got a lot of contacts around here so if he doesn't hear from me soon, he's coming looking."

The man shook his head. "I highly doubt that last part. Your cell phone shows no calls coming in or out for the last few hours so I doubt your father or anyone else knows you're here. The question remains why you are here."

Mac licked her lips. "Um….can we just forget about this? You know, we go our way, you go yours and we just chalk this up to a misunderstanding? I'm open for that, really."

The man turned away and headed to the briefcase. _Okay, this may start getting ugly,_ Veronica thought. She watched as the man pulled a sharp looking pair of pliers from his bag, clicking the tongs together. _Yep, I'm pretty sure this is going to get ugly._

The man started to move back to them, holding the pliers up. "I'll give you one last chance and that's all. Otherwise…" He grabbed Mac's hand and placed her index finger between the tongs. Mac gasped as the tongs clamped down.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Veronica yelled. "Don't….you can't do that! She's a hacker, it'd be like clipping the hands off Elton John!"

"As it happens, I hate Elton John," the man dryly replied.

_Great, we had to pick a torturer with good music taste._ Veronica tensed against her chair but it refused to give. "Look….just take it away and I'll talk, ok?"

The man glared at her. "Just talk instead."

Veronica licked her lips. "Okay…okay….we were tracking down a signal. We think it's tied in to some hacker trying to mess with school records. We're just trying to track down the truth, ok?"

The man stared at her and Veronica's chill increased. "I'm telling the truth here, ok! Let her go!"

The man's lips twisted upward slightly and he twisted his arm. Mac screamed out loud as her finger twisted around and Veronica couldn't help cringing at the sound of bone snapping. The man kept his gaze cool as he twisted in the opposite direction and there was a pop as the bone snapped back into place.

Mac slumped forward, tears in her eyes as she let out a low moan of pain. The man increased his hold on her finger as he spoke. "Next time I pull so it can't be popped back in. Tell me the truth."

"I did, dammit!" Veronica yelled, pushing against the chair, fear clutching her heart. "Please, let her go!"

The man just slowly shook his head and turned his attention back to Mac. He clenched his hand around the pliers and prepared to yank her finger out of its socket…

The door to the room burst open and a figure rushed in. The bigger man turned in time to take a kick right to the face that knocked him back. The figure followed up with a forearm to his face and then launched a kick right to his groin. The man gasped as he doubled over and the intruder grabbed him by the belt and neck and sent him hurtling head-first into the wall.

The torturer had pulled away from Mac and went after the intruder who Veronica could tell was a woman in black clothing. He swung at her with the pliers and the woman ducked and came up with a punch to his face, another to his throat and another to his gut. As the man collapsed to his knees, the woman grabbed the pliers and put them around his index finger. She pulled and the man cried out as his finger was snapped backward. The woman silenced his screams with a savage kick to the jaw that sent him down and out.

The woman turned to face the two girls. "You ok?"

Veronica stared in stunned amazement as she realized who it was. The hair was now longer but it was undoubtedly Sherry, the flighty staff assistant. "How…what…" It was a rare occasion for Veronica to be completely at a loss for words but this definitely counted.

The woman quickly moved behind them, her hands working at the cuffs behind Veronica's back. "We've got to get moving, there could be backup coming." She worked some sort of tool in and before Veronica knew it, her hands were freed. As she watched, Sherry moved behind Mac and quickly freed her as well. Mac rose up, rubbing at her injured finger.

"Are you ok?" Veronica quickly asked.

Mac nodded weakly. "I…think so…" She winced as she felt at herself. "Ok….I think I'll stick with the lab support thing from now on."

Veronica looked over to the woman before them. "What…what are you doing here?"

"No time for questions," Sherry said as she tugged at both girls' shirts. "Come on, let's go out the back." Mac and Veronica exchanged baffled glances but went along as the woman led them toward the rear entrance. She paused to open the door enough to peek out. She then immediately shut it and backed away. "Shit, the front, out the front!"

She pushed the two before her as the door started to open. Sherry kicked at it, shutting it again and pushed the two forward. "Move, dammit!" Veronica and Mac felt instinct kick in and started to run as the door burst open.

The trio had reached the front just as a gunshot went out. Veronica and Mac both screamed and ducked down but Sherry kept them going forward as they burst into the deserted street. Before them was a black sedan with a man behind the steering wheel. His eyes widened as he saw the two girls. "What are they-----"

"Not now!" Sherry hissed as she opened the door and hustled the two teenagers in. They piled in the backseat as the door burst open and a burly man holding a pistol stepped out. He aimed just as Sherry opened the passenger door and ducked down. There was a slight whisping sound and the gunman jerked in place before collapsing to the ground.

Looking up, Veronica felt a chill as she saw a silenced pistol in the driver's hands. Her eyes trailed over to his face and she felt another jolt of surprise as she recognized him as the French teacher from school. "What…what the hell is…"

Her words were cut off as the man put the car in drive and immediately took off down the street. Sherry was beside him, buckling up before looking to the rear. "Are you two okay?"

The two girls simply stared in utter disbelief at her. "Wha…what the hell is going on!" Veronica screeched.

"I thought it was just observation," the man calmly said to his companion.

"They were getting tortured, I couldn't leave them there!"

"Sloane's not going to like this. Or your father."

"I wasn't going to let them get hurt just to maintain our cover."

"Cover?" Mac whispered. "What…" She shook her head, her breath sucking in as she started to hyperventilate. "Oh, God…Oh, God…"

"Mac? Mac, take it easy!" Veronica moved to hold her friend's shoulders. She looked back at the two people in the front seat. "We need to get out of here, we need to get to the cops or someone. I…I have to call my dad, I have to…."

Sherry and the teacher exchanged a look that seemed to speak a secret message. The man nodded and Sherry reached under the seat. She seemed to shake something in her hand as she turned around. "Sorry," she said and truly seemed to mean it as she raised her arm.

Mac and Veronica both saw what looked like a small aerosol can held before them. The woman pressed quickly on the top and a quick burst of mist sprayed into both girls' faces. They both coughed, their lungs swallowing the bitter aroma. Then, before either realized it, they were falling back into unconsciousness, splaying out on the backseat.

Behind the driver's seat, Michael Vaughn shook his head. "This is going to complicate matters a lot, you know."

Sydney Bristow shrugged as she put the can away. "And that makes that different from every other mission…how?"

Vaughn paused and then nodded in understanding as they drove on.


	3. A Meeting of Minds and AssKickers

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part three: A Meeting of Minds and Ass-Kickers

Even when she had thought they were working for the CIA, Sydney had always thought Arvin Sloane a little scary. When she discovered he was actually a terrorist working for an international criminal organization, it answered quite a few questions about his behavior. Now, even though he claimed to have reformed and was once again her CIA boss, she still felt a chill whenever he spoke, especially when it was clear he was angry about something.

"I had thought I had made this situation clear," he was saying. He was standing in the main briefing room of APO, facing the table of his top agents. Erich Weiss was seated at one end up the table in his usual rumpled suit. Seated at his right was Sydney's sister, Nadia, elegant and beautiful in a professional black suit. At the other side of the table was Marcus Dixon, his manner always cool whenever he and Sloane shared a room together. At the far right was Marshall Flinkman, jittery even when seated. Sydney and Vaughn were at the middle, both calm as they faced their superior.

"This was simply a fact-finding mission," Sloane continued. "You were meant to gather intelligence on the case in Neptune. You were not authorized to involve yourselves physically and you were certainly not authorized to use lethal force. And I do not think I need to say that you were not authorized to bring two civilians here."

Sydney took a breath before speaking. "We followed the protocols as you put them down. We kept our surveillance up and followed Mars there. We were listening in as they were questioned. When we heard them being tortured, I made the call to go in."

"Which I backed up," Vaughn quickly added.

"You made that call," Sloane coolly stated. "By yourself."

"They were torturing two innocent teenage girls," Sydney snapped. "I wasn't going to sit back and let that happen."

"So instead you decide to jeopardize the entire operation," Sloane fired back.

"Sir, these two had stumbled onto the operation themselves," Vaughn stated. "They were already involved. We simply did our best to make sure it wasn't a fatal involvement."

Sloane let out a long sigh. "Well…while I still do not condone your actions, it seems too late to do anything about them." He glanced over to Dixon. "Where are they?"

"Isolation room in the lower level," Dixon replied. "They're awake and in good shape, aside from a sprained finger by one of them."

"What do we know about them?" Sloane asked.

Dixon lifted a folder and laid it out. "Veronica Mars, daughter of Keith Mars, former sheriff of Neptune. Good student and has been helping her father out at his detective agency while also doing casework of her own for the students."

"Sort of like Nancy Drew, eh?" Weiss said.

"I always liked those books," Nadia stated.

"Really?" Weiss said with surprise. "Originals or the newer versions?"

Nadia thought about it. "Well, the originals have their nice style but I sort of enjoy how the newer ones had more flair with more intriguing cases."

Weiss shot Vaughn a quick look that said _God, this is the greatest girl ever._ As always, Vaughn simply rolled his eyes.

"The other one," Dixon continued. "Is Cindy MacKenzie, Mac to her friends. Also quite intelligent who excellent computer skills." Marshall perked up at that. "She also has had some warning on her record due to unauthorized access of various systems around the town."

Sloane nodded slowly. "I see. Anything else?"

"Well, the Mars girl was in the news fairly recently for helping solve the Lily Kane murder case," Dixon stated.

"I read about that," Weiss said. "She got in some trouble over there but handled herself well."

Sloane stroked his short goatee. "Hmmm…Well, as long as we have them here, perhaps we can use them to get more information."

Sydney felt herself get defensive immediately. "Use them how?"

"Ms. Mars was one of the few people at the stadium who was not on the bus," Sloane said. "She might know what the point of the crash was."

Sydney shook her head. "This girl is the daughter of a cop and she's a hard-nosed investigator. If she knew anything, she'd have gone for it already herself."

"Unless she doesn't know she knows," Sloane pointed out. "I think we need to bring Ms. Mars into this in order to get at the truth."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "You want to tell her who we are?"

Sloane nodded. "Indeed. I do think this girl could be a good asset."

Sydney and Vaughn exchanged a look, neither liking the way he said that.

Veronica paced the small room for the tenth time in the last minute, rubbing her arms. She and Mac had woken up a few minutes earlier, each feeling a little fatigued but otherwise okay. They were inside a clear white room with a pair of cots set around the floor but no other furniture. Mac was seated on one of the cots, rubbing her arms and biting her lip as she watched Veronica pace.

"Can you stop doing that? You're making me more nervous," Mac finally said.

"Sorry," Veronica said but didn't stop. "Just trying to work out what is going on."

Mac took a breath. "Once again, I state my intent to become mere computer backup from now on."

"So noted." Veronica stopped as she heard the door open. She and Mac both backed up a bit as it opened to reveal Sydney, Vaughn and an elder man with a graying goatee. He nodded at the two teenagers as he stopped short of them. "Ms. Mars, Ms. MacKenzie. My name is Arvin Sloane." He motioned to the two people behind him. "You've already met Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn."

"Hey," Mac said with a weak wave. Veronica glanced at her, then to Sloane. "Listen, buddy, we've had a really bad day today and I'm not in the mood to be jerked around anymore. Now are we going to get some answers or am I going to have to try a breakout here?"

Sloane made a tiny smile. "A breakout? You think highly of yourself, Ms. Mars."

"Dad always told me confidence is the key to life."

Sloane nodded. "What I'm about to tell you both is highly confidential and it is in your own best interests to keep it quiet."

"You don't know her too well, do you?" Mac interjected.

"Ms. Mars…we have been attempting to find out the truth behind the recent bus crash in your town."

"I know the truth," Veronica snapped. "It was Aaron Echolls, wanting to kill me. He killed all those people…to get at me." Her face was flushed as the guilt rushed to her. So she was more than a bit thrown when Sloane actually chuckled. "Excuse me? You think this is funny?"

Composing himself, Sloane went on. "Ms. Mars, I hate to deflate your ego but you were not the target of the crash. At least, not in the way you believe. And Mr. Echolls, while a killer, is not able to manipulate things so greatly."

Veronica simply stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Sloane took a breath. "Ms. Mars, we work for a special branch of the CIA. We believe that the crash was the work of a terrorist organization that was attempting to silence any witnesses to a deal that would expose their plan to use your town as a power base for their operations on the West Coast."

Veronica simply stared at him, her jaw slightly open. Mac's eyes were wide as was her own mouth, trying to take in what Sloane just said. Veronica narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "Are you Jamie Kennedy? Am I being Punk'd?"

Sydney bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing while Vaughn was unable to hold back a smile. Sloane simply gave a short shake of his head. "I can assure you, you are not being…Punk'd." He crossed his arms as he faced the two girls. "Perhaps you should sit down while we explain this."

Veronica did so, taking a seat next to Mac, her expression still dubious. Sloane placed his hands behind his back as he spoke. "As you are aware, Ms. Mars, Woody Goodman is running for the position that is the equivalent of mayor of Neptune."

"County supervisor," Mac said. "Neptune is unincorporated so he can't technically be mayor."

"Yeah, I know that," Veronica impatiently said. "He's the odds-on favorite too. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Our intelligence shows that once he's won the election, Goodman's first task will be to make Neptune an actual city, if a small one."

Veronica shrugged. "Okay. So we get more fancy, maybe beef up the economy. Again, your point is sorta foggy here."

Sloane brought himself up. "Woody Goodman has been bankrupt for nearly four years."

Veronica and Mac were both thrown by that. "Wh…what?" Veronica burst. "But…how?"

"Well, let me put it this way," Sydney spoke up. "He had a lot invested in Enron."

Veronica and Mac both made "oooh" faces as Sloane continued. "He had to make some fast deals in order to cover it up. One of them was accepting a loan from a conglomerate in Eastern Europe. He no doubt saw it as a lifesaver and accepted it. It was enough to beef up his finances to cover his losses without anyone knowing. We believe it was only recently, with his decision to run for mayor, that his 'partners' decided to call in their favor."

"Which was?" Veronica asked.

"The conglomerate is not a legal business venture," Sloane stated. "It is, in fact, a criminal organization we have been tracking down for some time called Cell 17."

"Cell 17?" Mac repeated. "Oh, come on, I've seen better user names than that!"

Sydney smiled softly. "Actually, that's downright normal compared to some groups we've gone up against."

"Okay, so this Cell or whatever is financing Goodman. Why?" Veronica asked.

"Ms. Mars, if you were a criminal group trying to set up a base of power, what better way than to basically own your own town from the ground up?"

Veronica's dubious reaction grew. "Whoa…whoa, hold on," she said, holding up her hands. "You're telling me…that Woody Goodman, Mr. Neptune, the guy who owns the team that's one of the biggest economic staples we have, is on the payroll of some terrorists trying to take us over?"

"It's a sound strategy," Sloane said. "It's the most logical conclusion we've come up with."

"That's logical?" Mac asked.

A tiny smile came to Sloane's lips. "It's what I would do."

Veronica noticed the look Sydney and Vaughn shared and knew there was a lot behind Sloane's comment. Brushing that aside, she spoke. "So…why? Why the crash?"

It was Vaughn who spoke. "We believe the day your class went to the ballpark to listen to Goodman's speech, he was meeting with a representative of Cell 17. He was still there when your class was. They…" He paused to take a breath. "They probably felt it was wise to eliminate any possible witnesses."

_Stunned speechless four times in five minutes. A new personal best_, Veronica thought as she gawked at Vaughn. "Wait…wait…You're saying…they killed all those people…on the off chance they might have seen something they didn't even know about?"

"These are men who do not take chances, Ms. Mars," Sloane stated in a calm voice as if he was discussing the latest baseball game. "We're reasonably sure Goodman knew nothing about this. In fact, we think it was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision."

"Spur. Of. The. Moment?" Veronica's eyes widened with anger. "They killed all those people…on a whim?"

"The fact that you have not been targeted again seems to prove that," Sloane continued with his unique calm.

"But…but there was no reason!" Veronica yelled. "We didn't see anything weird!"

"Maybe you did," Sydney quickly said. "And you just don't remember it. But we can help with that."

Veronica's suspicion meter immediately went up. "Hold up. You guys kidnapped me, remember? Among the many rules my father pushed on me was 'never let your kidnappers mess around in your head.' It's a rule I've done my best to follow."

Sloane paused and when he spoke, it was with a more gentle tone. "Ms. Mars…From what I can tell, you are a woman who wants to know the truth, no matter the cost. You've wanted to find out the truth behind this crash, to see justice done to the victims. If you help us, we can help you find out who is responsible and see them punished. I'm asking a lot of you, I know that. But if you are willing to trust me, at least for a little while, we can help each other and those victims."

Sydney could barely restrain a disdainful roll of the eyes. Hearing Sloane talk about doing right by the victims was hypocrisy of the highest order. However, his speech did seem to get to Veronica, who bowed her head as she considered his words. She finally nodded. "Ok…okay, I'll help."

Sloane nodded. "Good. I'll get you set up with the doctor so we can start right away."

As he turned to leave, Veronica spoke up. "Hey, I need to call my dad so he doesn't worry about me!"

"We've got that covered," Sydney said. "Someone's already gone to see him. He'll make sure your dad doesn't cause trouble looking for you."

Veronica snorted. "You don't know my dad."

A smile filled Sydney's face. "Funny…I was going to say the same thing."

"And you haven't heard from her at all? Okay, thanks, Wallace." Keith Mars hung up the phone and shook his head. "He'd gotten back a couple of hours earlier to find the apartment empty. At first, he didn't think much of it, figuring Veronica was with Duncan. But when he called, the young man had said he hadn't seen Veronica all day and now Wallace was saying the same thing.

Keith frowned, figuring his next move. Calling the police seemed a dubious move, given Don Lamb's incompetence. Not to mention this would play with the press in the election and Keith didn't want to make it too much of a spectacle.

He was about to try calling Wallace to see if he knew anyone who know of Veronica's whereabouts when the door to the office opened. Keith looked up and in his trained manner, sized the man up instantly.

He was in his fifties, handsome but cold with gray hair and steely eyes. He carried himself with a mix of soldier and cop, dressed in a professional suit and coat as he walked up to the desk. "Mr. Mars?" he said in a cool tone.

"Yes?" Keith carefully asked. Something about this guy raised all sorts of alarms with him.

"My name is Jack Bristow," the man stated. "I'm here about your daughter."


	4. A Ride Down Memory Lane

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part four: A Ride Down Memory Lane

Keith Mars tapped his fingers as he stared at the man sitting across from his desk. "So I'm just supposed to take your word on this?"

Jack Bristow was impassive as he replied. "Yes. You are. Your daughter is helping us with an important investigation. She is fine and in good health. Hopefully, she'll be back by tonight."

Keith pursed his lips. "You'll forgive me if I'm just a little skeptical. For all I know, you could have abducted her."

"Do I look like a kidnapper, Mr. Mars?"

"In my experience, the people who look the least guilty are the ones who are guilty as sin."

Jack inclined his head. "You understand human nature better than I expected." He brushed at his coat. "This is not a kidnapping, Mr. Mars. I can't go into all the details but your daughter is helping investigate the truth behind this bus crash. I would think you would that as well."

"What I want is to know my daughter is safe," Keith coldly bit out. "And it'll take more than a fancy badge to convince me of that."

Jack slowly rose to his feet. "Your daughter will be back by tonight. We would appreciate you keeping quiet about her until then."

"Mr. Bristow," Keith said as he stood up and leaned across his desk. "If I don't hear from my daughter by then, I will come after you. Not the police, not the FBI. Just me. And you don't want that."

Jack didn't even flinch but instead returned Keith's look. "Mr. Mars…I would advise some caution there. You don't want to make an enemy of me." He turned and walked out of the office, leaving a slightly chilled Keith Mars behind.

_One more wire and I'll be hooked for Tivo._ Veronica shifted in the plush reclining chair, trying to hide her nervousness. She had several small electrodes attached to her forehead and temples and on her arms as well. She looked to the mirror on the side and gave it a thumbs-up.

On the other side of the one-way glass, Mac sat in between Sydney and Vaughn, all watching as a middle-aged woman in a nice suit sat before Veronica. "Veronica, I'm Dr. Judy Barnett," she said. "I'll be helping you with the regression."

Veronica nodded. "Okay. Um, I don't mind admitting I'm a little nervous about this. I do have to say that if I end up taking off my top every time someone sings a Kayne West song, I'll be pissed."

Barnett smiled at her humor. "It's nothing to worry about, trust me. You'll be aware of what's going on. I'm just going to help you remember what you saw that day, with better clarity. Now, sit back and take some nice deep breaths and let out the tension."

Veronica did, breathing in and out slowly as the doctor instructed. "Now close your eyes and picture someplace you feel comfortable. Someplace safe." Veronica did and conjured up the image she'd had before of the pool at Lily's place. She listened to the doctor speak, hearing her talk of how soothing she felt. Veronica felt her own nervousness start to fade as the image came crisper. It was as if she could feel herself floating on a futon in the pool, just letting the water sway her back and forth and let go of all the tension inside...

Barnett checked the readings given from the electrodes attached to Veronica. She nodded as she saw the patterns indicating Veronica was in the REM state. She gazed at the young woman, who lay back, eyes shut and a content look on her face. "Veronica…how do you feel?"

"Good…peaceful…" Came the murmured reply.

"Okay, Veronica. Listen carefully. I want you to imagine you're watching a movie. You're in a nice soft chair watching the screen. Only the screen is showing your memories. Can you see it?"

Veronica nodded softly.

"Good. Now, I want the screen to go back, to rewind to that day, the day at the ballpark. I want you to remember everything you saw. Everything, even the things you didn't notice at the time. Let it all unfold in your mind. Do you see it?"

Veronica nodded. "Goodman's talking…He's telling us about his plans…his big deal with running and wanting support…usual political stuff…"

"Okay, Veronica. Keep your eyes on him. Just on him. I need you to…edit the movie. I need you to see only Goodman, whatever you saw of him, even if it was out of the corner of your eye. Just focus on him and him alone. Can you do that?"

"…Yes…"

"Okay then. Watch him. Tell me what you see him doing. Is he talking to anyone?"

"One of the players….Then some guy comes up…Think he's an aide…He whispers someone's there and Goodman…looks worried for some reason."

"What does he do, Veronica?"

"He goes over to talk to the guy."

"What does he look like?"

"Looks in his thirties…kinda hot…blond hair, blue eyes, in suit. He looks intense and they talk…can't tell what they're saying but…"

"But what?"

"Blondie's poking him in the chest…he looks so cold and scary…Goodman looks intimidated…He wants to argue but Blondie just turns away and walks. Then…"

Veronica tensed suddenly and took in a breath. "Veronica? Veronica, what's wrong? "Barrett quickly asked.

"He looks at me…his eyes are…cold and scary…he looks all over at all of us and…" She sucked in another breath. "He narrows his eyes…he's so cold…he looks like he…he wants to…" She heaved for breath, fear on her face. "It's him…it's him…he…he…"

"Veronica, Veronica, listen to me!" Barrett said quickly. "Listen! Calm down…let the movie stop…but remember that image of the man. Remember him. Now I'm going to count to three and when I reach three, you will be awake and remember that image. One..two…three."

Veronica's eyes snapped open and she sat up. She sucked in a breath as the memories flew into her head. "Oh, God," she whispered as she tore the electrodes off. "Oh, God, he was right there. I didn't even know I saw him but…he was there."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Barrett asked.

Veronica nodded. "I'll never forget."

Barrett nodded back and glanced to the glass window. "Then I think we've got a place to start."

The small room Veronica found herself in was about the size of the computer lab at Neptune High. Every single spare inch was crammed with computer monitors, keyboards and over a dozen different types of mainframes. There were also yards of wires and devices crammed into the shelves, whose purpose Veronica could only guess at. She stood with Mac and Sydney, watching the curious little man before the keyboard at the desk.

"Okay, so, the program will allow you to help us create an image of the man you saw," Marshall was saying in an excitable manner. "Now, you gave me his basics before and now I can use it to create the image, just need you to tell me how to do it. Kinda like creating your own RPG character for Neverwinter Nights or something, ya know?" He giggled before seeing the blank look on Veronica's face and turned back to the screen to start typing.

"Wow, this is some system," Mac said, glancing around. Her eyes widened. "Whoa! Is that the new Mac driver? I thought that wasn't coming out until next year!"

"Oh, it's not," Marshall said. "But I got a peek at some of the plans and I kinda jury-rigged my own version so I can use it and it's been going good so far."

Mac stared at him. "You jury-rigged your own Mac?"

Marshall shrugged. "Ah, I kinda fool around with stuff in my spare time. Which isn't a whole lot with the wife and the kid and the whole trying to keep the world safe thing but I like to dabble and tinker and all that."

_And I do believe we've finally met Mac's long-lost uncle, _Veronica thought as she rubbed her arms.

Mac leaned in toward her friend. "You ok?"

Veronica shrugged. "Just trying to deal with it. I hope I can make this work."

"Just remember it wasn't your fault," Sydney said in a gentle tone. "It was this man who gave the order to do it, not you. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Veronica smiled. "Thanks. Sydney, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, sorry we didn't get to talk earlier. And for the, you know, knocking you out part."

"Ah, what's a little chloroform between friends?" Veronica said.

"I've been talking to her a little while you were at your appointment," Mac said. "She seems cool."

"Oh, she is! She is!" Marshall piped up. "She's like a grown-up Kim Possible!" Sydney shot him a look as he babbled on. "My kid loves that show. I mean, I assume he does, he's still a baby and he watches but he kinda drools a bit when he sees her, which, you know, I think is just the baby thing but, maybe he's lusting over her which, I mean, you know, may not be a good sign, lusting over a cartoon character but then at least I know he's straight! I mean…I hope he's straight, I don't want to sound all homophobic and stuff but, I mean, I can't handle it because…."

Veronica shot Sydney a baffled look that basically asked _What the HELL is this guy on!_ Sydney just gave a tiny shrug, used to the reaction Marshall brought out in people.

An image flowed on the screen of a man with blonde hair and flat features. "So, is this, um accurate?"

Veronica moved past him to look close. "No…nose was a bit shorter and centered." Marshall hit some keys and the nose shifted in place. "Okay…eyes were smaller…no, not that small," Veronica said as Marshall kept shifting the picture as per her description. "The hair was shorter, too, a bit more swept-back. Yeah, like that. Okay and his mouth wasn't so full in the lips. No, smaller. Okay, that's it. Yeah…yeah, that's him."

Mac and Veronica both realized a silence had gone out as both Marshall and Sydney tensed at the image of the handsome man on the screen. "What?" Veronica asked, looking from one to the other. "What is it?"

Sydney simply stared at the screen, at the image of a man she'd hoped she'd never see again.

"Sark."


	5. A Girl's Day Out

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part five: A Girl's Day Out

The image Veronica had in her mind was on the screen. A handsome man of European descent with blonde hair, handsome features and cool blue eyes. His face filled several of the screens in the briefing room as Sloane stood by them.

"His name is Julian Sark," he intoned. "He's a mercenary and murderer who has offered his services to the highest builder. He escaped from our custody some time ago and gone to ground since then. This is the first we've heard of him in months."

"So, um," Mac piped up. "Why is he in Neptune?"

"Obviously, he's the point man for Cell 17," Sydney stated. "As for his exact intentions, we don't know yet."

"But we will find out," Sloane said. "Sydney, I need you to go back to Neptune with Ms. Mars and her friend. I need you to start digging and find out if Sark has any connections in town."

"Sark knows who she is," Dixon argued.

"He knows who all of us are," Sloane pointed out. "We won't be able to go as deeply under the radar as I'd like but we do have to try. Get them settled and then head back to Neptune. Dismissed." He watched the main part of the group rise and start to walk out. To his lack of surprise, Sydney stayed behind. "I know what you're going to say, Sydney."

"She has no experience in this," the young woman said. "She's handled small investigations, nothing on a scale like this. She's already a target and you're putting her in more danger."

"She's also good at getting to the truth," Sloane said. "We will need that and her knowledge of Neptune. You can keep an eye on her if you want."

"More than one," Sydney said. She paused and when she spoke, it was with a very low and dangerous voice. "If she gets hurt because of this, I am putting it on your head."

Sloane simply returned her gaze. "Believe me, Sydney, I have no wish to add more guilt to my plate."

She simply glared at him before turning and leaving the briefing room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Veronica brushed at her jacket before pulling it on. "I still can't believe this. I can't believe I'm actually working with the CIA."

"Technically, you're not," Sydney said. "We're Black Ops."

"OOooh, like Splinter Cell," Mac said with a goofy smile.

Sydney smiled thinly. "We try to be a bit more advanced than that."

Veronica paused as she looked to Sydney. "So…you got my whole life on file like the conspiracy freaks say you do?"

"Not your whole life," Sydney said. "We do have a lot on the last year, including family stuff."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Great. So you know about my Mom the lush who walked out on us, who I spent a whole year trying to find and who ended up checking out of the rehab, which I paid for with my college money, without finishing and who then stole a $50,000 check for me?"

Mac sniffed. "Hey, at least she was your real mom. Mine not only let herself be paid off after knowing I was the wrong kid they brought home but refused to even acknowledge it so I'm not the rich girl I could be. How's that for bad mothering?"

Sydney looked at them and pursed her lips. "My mother was a KGB agent who married my father as part of her cover, caused the deaths of several CIA agents, including Vaughn's father, came back to my life as the head of a criminal organization, betrayed my trust several times and later put out a contract on my life."

Mac and Veronica stared at her, then at each other. "She wins," Mac flatly stated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The phone was to Keith's ear almost as soon as it had rang. "Hello? Veronica?"

"Hey, dad," her daughter's voice came on.

Keith felt himself relaxing. "Honey, are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah, it's been a ride. Sort of like the one that takes you to Hogwarts."

"So, you're ok? You're fine? I'm not going to have to bust any government heads?"

"Aw, that's my crazy dad I love," Veronica teased. "No, no need to get Michael Moore on the phone. I'm okay and we're actually back in town now."

"Where?"

"Ah, kinda best if I don't say. As much for you as for me."

"Veronica…"

"Look, Dad, I just need to help out this nice government lady a bit and I'll be home before you know it."

"I'd prefer you to be home right now," Keith bit out.

A deep sigh came over the phone. "Dad…I have to do this. You know that."

"Yeah, I know, honey," Keith softly said. "Just…be careful, ok?"

"You know me."

"Hence the warning. I love you."

"I love you too. Just…don't get nuts, ok?" She hung up and Keith did as well, wishing to hell he was still in a position to help her out. Sometimes, having a child be old beyond her years was really annoying.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Veronica pushed the glasses up on her nose as she walked into the office building. She was dressed in a prim black business suit and skirt with heels, her hair done up in a tight bun, the effect making her look a couple of years older than she was. Next to her was Sydney, the older woman dressed in a lighter outfit, her hair in a ponytail and also wearing glasses. "You sure this is going to work?" Veronica asked.

"Simple recon job," Sydney stated.

"Uh-huh," Veronica drawled. "And if memory serves, the last simple recon job you had a hand in ended up as a scene from a 50 Cent video."

"Just remember you're not a high school student," Sydney said as she handed her a clip-on ID badge. "You're an intern investigator for the IRS and this is a surprise inspection."

"Ooooh, IRS?" Veronica grinned as she clipped on the badge. "I get to belong to a scary agency!"

"Don't smile," Sydney softly said as they walked to the front desk. "IRS doesn't do that." She lifted up her wallet at the secretary. "Hello. Agent Fielding, this is Agent Alexander. We're here to conduct a quick search of your records."

The secretary started. "But, um….we don't have an appointment."

"We like to pop in unexpectedly," Veronica piped in. "The whole 'shock and awe' thing has gone through the whole government."

Sydney shot her a look to tone down the humor as the secretary licked her lips. "Maybe I should call…"

"Call whoever you like," Sydney snapped. "But if you don't let us go right now, you may be finding yourself audited very soon."

The secretary quickly buzzed them in, Sydney nodding as she led Veronica in. As soon as they were in the hallway, Veronica softly spoke. "So now are you going to tell me why we're checking out Goodman's former business offices? He hasn't worked here in years."

"Not officially," Sydney replied. "But we have reason to believe he still maintains connections with the company which makes this a good place to start the investigation."

Veronica rubbed her ear and softly spoke. "Mac? Are you reading me on this?"

"Roger, wilco," Mac's voice came through the tiny earpiece in Veronica's lobe. She was seated in a small room the street alongside Marshall, both staring at the monitors before them. It was an office building the group had temporarily commandeered as their headquarters for the assignment.

"CB radios died before we were born, Mac," Veronica said. She adjusted the glasses and one of the pictures on a screen shook with the mini-cam inside them. Marshall was glancing at a computer screen with had a map of the office on the screen. "Okay, take a left and go to the next office, it should be empty."

Sydney did, her hand rattling the locked knob. She took a look around as she removed a small device from her breast pocket. Veronica moved next to her, trying to keep her blocked as Sydney quickly unlocked the door. With a final look around, the two stole in, Sydney locking the door behind her.

Sydney headed to the small computer on the desk in the office, sliding a device the size of a small comb to its side. "Linking to you now," she stated.

As she spoke, Veronica moved to a large metal file cabinet, glancing over the letters. She opened the one marked "F----I" and quickly flipped through the folders marked with "G". "Hmm…nothing for Goodman here."

"Not surprised," Sydney stated as she began to transmit data from the laptop to Marshall's computer. "Are you getting this ok?"

"Another minute and we do," Marshall stated.

"Wow, this is so exciting!" Mac couldn't help squeal. "I feel so Hackers right now!"

"Oh, you liked that movie, too?" Marshall asked her.

"Oh yeah! Angelina was hot! I mean, I'm straight and all but…I mean, you know her in the outfits and at the keyboards, that was an influence for me." She shrugged. "Well, except for the good looks part of course."

"Ah, come on, you look really good!"

"I do?"

"Oh yeah! Just try not to go so pseudo-goth and such and you could really-----"

"Marshall," Sydney's voice cut in. "You're married, remember?"

Veronica couldn't help smiling as watched the data flow. "Okay, we almost done?"

"As soon as we got the data transmitted, we check the records room," Sydney stated. "We should be able to…"

The door suddenly burst open and Veronica and Sydney started as they saw a pair of men enter. One was heavyset and in a security outfit. Another was older with graying hair and a slight build. The third was in a uniform and was someone Veronica recognized all too well.

The man in the middle folded his arms. "I knew the IRS didn't make calls like this," he stated in a cool tone. "So maybe you ladies can tell us what you're doing here?"

"Excuse me!" Sydney said, trying to stall. "We are conduction a special audit and have every right to do what…"

"Save it, honey," the man in uniform said with a sneer in his voice. "I already know your partner isn't IRS." He looked to Veronica and smirked. "So, you gonna introduce us, Ronnie?"

Veronica's voice was flat and even. "Oh, right. Sydney, meet Don Lamb, the law enforcement of California's answer to Michael Brown."

Lamb just blinked as if he didn't understand the reference. Shaking it off, he crossed his arms. "So, ladies. How about we have a nice long talk downtown?"

Sydney and Veronica exchanged a look as they realized their simple trip had just hit a little snag.


	6. We Should Hope for Silence From the Lamb

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part six: We Should Hope for Silence from the Lamb

Police stations were nothing new to Sydney although she had to admit Neptune's was one of the cleaner ones she'd been in. She and Veronica were sitting in an interview room, still in their suits although Veronica had let her hair down and ditched her glasses. Sydney tapped her fingers on the table as she impatiently waited for this Lamb character to show up. This was a setback to be sure but it could be solved. All she had to do was have the sheriff make a phone call to a certain government office and she and Veronica would be on their way in no time with the local authorities ordered to forget they had ever been there.

It was a good plan but unfortunately, Sydney had failed to take into account the work ethic and standards of Donald Lamb.

The door opened and Lamb entered, throwing the two a wicked smirk. "Well, Veronica Mars, you have gotten yourself into a nice pickle here, haven't you?" He moved to sit down at the table and glanced at Sydney. "Only now it seems you've gotten yourself a partner in crime."

Veronica shrugged. "Well, you know me, Donny. I'm always looking to expand my base."

Lamb just sniffed as he leaned back in his chair. "So, I don't suppose you're willing to explain just what you were up to at that office?"

"Oh but I so enjoy our little Dance Dance Revolution," Veronica quipped.

Lamb just sighed. "You know, I'd really hate to have to arrest my opponent's daughter just before the election." The tone in his voice made it clear he wouldn't hate it one little bit. "But you did break and enter…"

"Only entered, we never broke in," Veronica pointed out.

"Okay, fine, impersonation of government agents," Lamb continued.

"Actually, it's not impersonation," Sydney piped up. "If you'll call my superior, he'll explain all of this to you rather quickly."

Lamb just smiled. "Really? Just one call and things are fine? And who would be on the other end of the line? One of Veronica's buddies or maybe even her old man? I'm wise to your tricks, kiddo."

"Lamb, you couldn't be wise to my tricks if you had the entire catalog of them," Veronica retorted.

"The point is, you're not leaving until we get to the bottom of this," the sheriff continued. "So the sooner one of you talks, the easier it will go for us."

"Yes and easy has been the watchword for your administration," Veronica noted.

Sydney couldn't help smiling. She was really starting to like this kid. Lamb saw it and it seemed to darken his mood as he sat up and leaned forward. "We're not playing around here, Veronica Mars. I want to know the truth or I will seriously put you in a cell. I'm sure Daddy would just love to have to come and bail you out."

Sydney looked to Veronica. "Is he always such an asshole?"

"This is a good day."

Lamb was about to open his mouth when there was a knock on the door. He rose and moved to it, opening it to see one of his deputies. Lamb exited, shutting the door behind him. Sydney raised a hand to her earpiece and whispered. "Marshall, are you still reading?"

"Yeah, we are," his voice came on. "We've got your Dad, he should be on his way and Vaughn is working on some lawyer credentials to get over there."

"Good. It looks like we're going to have to go the hard way with this one."

"Wow, there's a line I could take several directions," Veronica said.

"So they should….there soon and….can resolve…." Marshall's voice began to cut in and out as static filled the earpiece. Sydney frowned and tapped it with her finger. "Marshall? Marshall, can you hear me?" Static filled the transmitter.

_When the super-secret agent's face goes big with worry, it's officially sweating time_, Veronica thought to herself.

The door opened and Lamb entered with a neat smirk on his face. "Well, ladies," he said. "Looks like it's good news/bad news. The good news is, you're going to be leaving and are no longer my problem."

Veronica's eyebrows rose high. "Wow. Remind me to play the lottery on the way home."

"The bad news," Lamb went on. "Is that you're now the problem of the feds."

The two women exchanged baffled looks. "The feds?" Veronica asked. "What are you talking about?"

The door opened again and in walked a handsome man with sandy blond hair, dressed in a stylish suit. Sydney and Veronica both stiffened in shock as they recognized Julian Sark. "Oh my God," Veronica whispered.

Sark pulled an ID from his pocket and held it up. "Johnson, FBI," he said in a flawless Texan accent. "Thanks for the help, Sheriff, but we'll take it from here."

Lamb threw a wicked smirk at Veronica. "Well, looks like I'll be keeping my job after all. Poor Keith is going to be too busy keeping you out of Club Fed to worry about the election."

Veronica tore her eyes from Sark to glare at Lamb. "Lamb," she snarled. "I know being an idiot is a 24/7 thing for you but could you take a five minute break and listen to me?"

Lamb just turned and walked out with a big smile on his face. As soon as the door shut, Sark turned his attention to Sydney. "Sydney," he said, his voice slipping in its smooth British accent. "It's been far too long."

"You're not getting away with this, Sark," Sydney snapped. "We've got agents watching this place."

Sark nodded. "I'm fully aware of that. I'm also aware that my own men are watching as well. And that you don't accompany me outside, they will kill every person inside this station, right down to the janitor."

"You can't do that!" Veronica cried out. She took in the utterly calm look on Sark's face and turned to Sydney. "Can he do that?" she softly asked.

"I'd prefer not to," Sark stated. "I've already brought more collateral damage than I had intended for this job but if you don't comply, I will be forced to take such extreme measures."

Sydney set her jaw. "If you're going to kill us, you should do it now."

Sark chuckled with what looked like honest amusement. "My dear, darling Sydney. If I'd wanted you dead, I'd have put a bullet in you from across the street. No, my employers want to talk to you first, to find out how much your superiors know about our operations."

"And you expect us to just talk about that?" Veronica snapped.

Sark shrugged. "To be honest, no, but they are writing my rather sizeable check so for the moment I must go along with their whims, foolish as they may be." He glanced at his watch. "Time is pressing, ladies so the choice is simple. Leave with me or this place turns into that one scene from _The Terminator._" At the two's surprised looks, Sark rolled his eyes. "Yes, bad guys watch DVDs as well."

The two women exchanged a long look. Neither wanted to do this but both knew they didn't have much choice. With sullen expressions, they rose as Sark opened the door. "Come along, ladies," he said, once more in the Texan accent. "Thanks for the help, sheriff," he nodded to Lamb, who threw a triumphant thumbs-up at him.

Veronica didn't even bother pleading for help as she knew it wouldn't do one damn bit of good. Instead, she and Sydney followed Sark down the stairs and to the rear of the police station. Sark led them out where a van was waiting. The doors slid open to reveal two dark-haired men in black clothing and hard expressions. Sark made a mocking motion with his hands. "Ladies first."

Giving him a look that could freeze lava, Sydney climbed into the van, Veronica right behind her. They never got a chance to sit down as Veronica was grabbed from behind and a rag pushed over her mouth and nose. She was unable to keep from taking a whiff of the bitter aroma. She struggled but it was no use as the grip on her was tight and she soon felt her limbs grow heavy and eyes become lead weights. She saw Sydney also held with a rag over her face, her eyes starting to shut. Before darkness took her, Veronica had time for one absent thought.

_Dart, gas, now chloroform. Two days and I've managed the knock-out hat trick._

Sark watched as the two unconscious women were lowered to the van. "Where to?" the man behind the driver's wheel asked.

"One moment," Sark said as he moved in. He reached into his coat and removed a long knife. "I have one more thing to do," he said as he lowered the knife toward Sydney's body…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vaughn raced around the corner of the police station, out of breath. He was dressed in a nice suit with glasses, the perfect image of a lawyer. However, he had already dropped the guise as soon as Marshall had told him they'd lost contact with Sydney and Veronica. He held up his communicator as he ran around the building. "You still have the signal?"

"Homers are coming in loud and clear," Marshall said over the line. "They should be at the rear of the building."

Vaughn nodded as he pulled out his gun. He paused at the wall of the station, taking a deep breath. He peeked around the corner quickly but saw no one. He made his way into the rear area, his gun up and moving around. He stopped as he saw something on the ground. Moving closer, he saw a pile of clothing he quickly recognized as Sydney and Veronica's. A chill went through him as he realized it was everything they had been wearing: Dresses, shoes, jewelry, even underwear.

"Marshall," he spoke into the communicator. "The clothes are here but they're gone."

"Oh, God," Mac's voice came on, the young woman obviously fearful. "What…what are we going to do?"

"Talk to whoever's in charge," Vaughn bit out. "And get some answers."

"Um, that won't be easy," Mac said. "Lamb is…well, he gives thick-headedness a whole new meaning."

Vaughn thought about that and nodded. "Marshall…Raptor is still in the area."

"Raptor?" Mac asked in confusion. "Who's Raptor?"

Marshall just chuckled. "Oh, dude…you are so over."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Keith Mars was not in a happy mood. True, it was often hard to tell with him but at the moment, his foul attitude could easily be seen. He didn't even acknowledge any of the officers trying to get his attention but marched right across the squad room and barged into Lamb's office. "We gotta talk," he began without preamble.

Lamb was sitting back at his desk, doing a crossword puzzle. "Keith," he said with a false smile. "What brings you by?"

"Where is she, Lamb?" Keith demanded. "I heard about what happened at the office and I'm here to talk to her."

Lamb just smirked. "Ah, sorry, Keith but I'm afraid your daughter's run into some big problems with the feds. Personally, I'd be a bit more worried about when the papers get a hold of this."

"You called them?" Keith hissed.

"No," Lamb replied as he filled out another part of the puzzle. "But you know how word gets around in a town this small." He smiled at Keith. "Boy, your image consultant is going to have to work overtime on this."

Keith resisted the urge to punch this idiot in the face. "Lamb…where is my daughter?"

"Sorry," the sheriff blissfully replied. "But you're going to have to take that up with someone more important than me."

"Which, from what I've seen, is most of the population of this planet."

The two men turned to see a tall white-haired man in a suit standing in the doorway, his eyes cool and hard as they looked to Lamb.

"Sheriff," Jack Bristow stated. "I believe you and I have things to discuss."


	7. Spy Daddy Meet PI Daddy

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part seven: Spy Daddy Meets P.I. Daddy

In his long career, Jack Bristow had met quite a few hard-headed individuals. It came with government work, after all. You couldn't spend your life in intelligence and not meet people more wrapped up with rules and regulations and their own sense of importance so they failed to see reality.

But Jack was hard pressed to remember the last person he'd met who was as completely wrong for his position as Don Lamb.

"I am asking again," he said in the tone that had cowered many a superior. "Where is my daughter?"

Lamb lounged in his seat with that cocky smirk in place. "And I'm telling you again. I turned her over to the feds so take it up with them."

"You couldn't have just turned them over without some sort of paperwork," Jack snapped. "There are procedures involved."

"Yeah, well, Don isn't too big on procedures," Keith observed from his spot in the other chair facing the desk. "He prefers to handle things in the FEMA fashion."

Jack nodded in understanding before turning his attention back to Lamb. "Mr. Lamb..."

"Sheriff Lamb."

"MR. Lamb," Jack went on. "I am asking you now, as an agent of the United States Government, to tell me any and all information you have about the man who took our daughters and where we might find him."

Lamb snorted. "That supposed to scare me? You don't intimidate me, pal."

"Then clearly, you're an even bigger imbecile than I already knew you were."

Lamb put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the swivel chair. "You know, I've pretty much lost my patience for this."

"For the first time," Jack calmly stated. "You've said something intelligent."

Keith barely registered what happened next. The desk was suddenly kicked back, sending the chair with Lamb against the wall. He bounced off, a look of surprise on his face and Jack was on his feet and rounding the desk. He grabbed Lamb and slammed his head down hard on the desk, pinning it down.

Jack's face was calm and collected but his voice rained icicles as he spoke. "Now then, you miserable little pissant shit," he bit out. "I was asking before as a government agent. Now, I am asking as a concerned parent. A parent who has enough connections, clout and blackmail material to be able to kill you right here and now and walk out of this station with no one able to touch me."

He pressed harder on Lamb's neck, causing the man to sputter. Keith was torn between interfering or just sitting back and enjoying the very appealing show. Lamb was feebly trying to push Jack off but would have had better luck throwing off an anvil. "What did he offer?" Jack hissed. "How much did he offer to get you to let them go so fast?"

"You can't…" Lamb gasped. "You can't do…"

Jack looked up to Keith. "Would you put a hand over his mouth?"

"Got one better." Keith reached into his pocket and pulled out a small roll of duct tape. Most people would have asked why he carried a roll of duct tape in his jacket pocket but Jack just accepted it with a nod. Keith tore off a piece and stuck it over Lamb's mouth, pressing down to make sure it was on tight.

Nodding a quick thanks, Jack held one of Lamb's hands behind his back, took a finger and bent it back sharply. Lamb gasped loud in pain. "I will ask just one more time," Jack said, his voice still calm. "And if you don't tell me the truth, I will break fingers. Are we clearly understood?"

Lamb feebly nodded, tears starting to appear in his eyes. Keith reached over and yanked the tape off hard, causing the sheriff to gasp in pain. He took a deep breath before rattling out words. "He…he told me…a special ten grand bonus…if I just…let them go. I could…use the money…for the campaign…"

"Did he give any indication where they were going?" Jack pressed. "Anything at all?" He twisted the finger a bit to urge Lamb on.

Gasping in pain, Lamb quickly spoke up. "He had someone with him…told him to get the van around…something about….the hotel…"

Nodding, Jack let go and shoved Lamb on the desk. The man rubbed his injured finger and groaned in pain. "I'm…I'm gonna see you in jail so fast…"

"No, you're going to let us go," Jack stated. "Because I have you on tape admitting you took a bribe from a man you weren't even sure worked for the FBI. A man who is actually a wanted terrorist, which means I can have you up on charges that will ensure a very long stay in a jail a far ways away from any country club."

Keith couldn't help but feel an immense satisfaction at the look of fear on Lamb's face. Nodding at him, Jack backed to the door. "I'd keep quiet about this for the time being, Mr. Lamb. Otherwise, I may return and this time…I'll be angry."

"That," Keith said as he caught up to Jack on the outside stairs. "Was the coolest thing I have seen in years."

"I'm happy you enjoyed it," Jack snapped as he headed away. "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Mars, I have work to do."

"We have work to do," Keith said as he caught up and caught the man's arm.

Jack stared at the hand as if it was covered in bug juice before brushing it away. "Mr. Mars, I'm afraid this goes beyond you."

"My daughter is missing too," Keith said as he stepped forward. "So I'm in this. One way or another, I'm in this. Is that clear?"

Jack met his gaze, seeing Keith not flinching at all, seeing the hard-headedness in his own tone and did his best to hide a smile of respect. "Fine." He turned and headed to his car. "We've got a lot of ground to cover and not much time to do it."

Keith nodded and fell in behind him. "Wanna take my car?"

"I'd prefer something less conspicuous," Jack said as he led the way to a small dark sedan parked nearby. The two got in and drove off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay," Marshall said over the phone. "Okay, we're double-checking all hotels in the area for recent arrivals and trying to pull phone records."

"Would they really take them to a hotel in town?" Keith asked as Jack drove the car down the streets of Neptune. "I would have thought they'd get them as far away as they could."

"It's possible Sark believes taking something more open than we expect will allow him to slip by us,' Jack intoned.

"Hide in plain sight," Keith mused. "Could work."

"It often does," Jack confirmed as he kept the car going. "Any luck yet?"

"Ah, not so far but we're narrowing it down," Marshall replied. "We're pretty sure it's one of five in the area."

"Uh-huh," Keith drawled. "Is this 'pretty sure' like 'we're pretty sure there's weapons of mass destruction' pretty sure?"

"There were, actually," Jack matter-of-factly stated. "But we managed to remove them. Unfortunately, our Commander-in-Chief never got the memo on that before publicly announcing they had them."

Keith stared at him. "Are you shitting me?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do I strike you as the type of man who shits people?"

"Actually, yes, you do."

Jack glanced away. "Well, again, I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

Keith smiled as he reached into his pocket. "Now this is where we small-town guys have the advantage." He pulled out the cell phone and flipped it open. "You can have all the billion-dollar super-spy satellites you want…but that don't mean squat compared to connections." He dialed a number and listened in. "Maggie? It's Keith. Hey, how's the kid? Good, good. Listen, I could use a favor…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Lexington wasn't one of the biggest or most stylish hotels in Neptune but it was popular due to its close location to the beach. Fifteen stories of art-deco walls with balconies, a large pool area and then the beach itself. Jack observed it through a pair of binoculars as he spoke. "Are you certain?"

"Maggie did some checking with some of the hotel people she knows," Keith said. "A guy matching this Sark's description checked in a few days ago with a couple of big helpers."

"And just how does this 'Maggie' know it's them?" Jack asked with obvious disbelief.

"She sent a couple of girls over to the room."

Jack paused and then turned to face Keith. "She runs a prostitution ring?"

"Now, now, escort service is the proper title," Keith chided. "It's a clean one, which is why it's still in business." As Jack kept staring at him, Keith held up his hands in defense. "Hey, if anyone knows the guys who are dirty, it's hookers."

Jack shook his head. "Sark will undoubtedly have a guard watching for anyone suspicious. And he'll regard most everyone with suspicion. It'd be almost impossible to get a strike team in close."

"Well, we could try some undercover work," Keith said. "Maybe you and I can rent a room together? Pose as a couple?"

Jack was silent for a full ten seconds. "If the comms line was on when you suggested that, you realize I'd have to kill you."

Keith shrugged and rubbed his chin. "Well, we could always go to Plan B."

"I wholeheartedly suggest that."

"I may not have been with the CIA but I know that distractions go a long way toward making a secret entry work." Keith smirked. "And I know just the guy to see about a big distraction."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So let me get this straight," Weevil said as he paced before Keith. "You want us to do you a solid?"

Most people would have shown some disdain at the run-down pool bar Weevil and his motorcycle gang hung out at. Jack, however, had been to places that made this look like the Ritz so he simply leaned on a pool table and let Keith do the talking.

"How about repaying Veronica for all the times she's helped you out?" Keith intoned as he stared the biker down.

Weevil shrugged as he moved to the table, lining up a shot. "That was a while ago and we pretty balanced the sheet already."

Keith moved in, his face serious. "She's in trouble, Eli. Major trouble. I need your help to get to her."

Weevil seemed torn for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't know…ain't like me to be the model citizen, you know?"

"I can make it worth your while," Jack stated.

Weevil looked up at him with a suspicious gaze. "What do you mean, white-collar?"

Jack calmly walked forward. "You want money, I can pay you."

Weevil snorted and spread his arms. "We look like we work for a living, holmes?"

"First, don't call me Holmes," Jack snapped. "Second, I am willing to give you more money that you'd make legally. Enough to get you out of any personal jams. And third, if you cooperate, I will not be tempted to use my agency's resources to make the lives of each and every person in this bar very, very difficult."

There was a chill in the air as Jack finished speaking and everyone realized he was deadly serious. Weevil paused, tapping a finger on his pool cue and then nodded. "Well, there is something you can do for me."

"What's that?" Jack asked.

A little smirk came to Weevil's lips. "You can pay a visit to a little rich whitie who's got my grandma's house under his thumb. Break the thumb off it…and you've got yourself your own little motor-club."

Keith looked to Jack. "If he's talking about who I think he's talking about, then we've got some bigger complications coming our way."

"I don't mind complications," Jack calmly stated as he pulled out a phone.

"Who you calling?" Keith asked.

Jack couldn't resist a small smile. "Well, this is an advantage we have over small-town guys. We have people to delegate tasks to."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dude, if I wanted to see something white walk so much, I'd go see 'March of the Penguins,'" Logan Echolls said from his spot on the couch. Duncan Kane glared at him from his spot walking in the living room of his apartment.

"I'm worried about Veronica," Duncan snapped to his friend. "She's never so long without at least calling me."

"Hmmm...can't live without hearing your gal's call? Dr. Phil could have a blast with that," Logan said as he continued to play his video game.

"Aren't you worried about her?" Duncan asked.

Logan acted like he was thinking about it. "Hmmm...not really, no. Funny, once a girl dumps you and her father tells you he'll kill you if you come near her again, she sort of falls out of your list of priorities."

Duncan snorted. "I can't believe you're that cold to her."

"Cold, my friend, is a great survival tool, especially these days," Logan intoned. "I am the Arctic now…feel my chill."

Before Duncan could fire back, there was a knock at the door. Duncan sighed and rose to his feet to open it. "Yeah?"

Standing on the other side was a handsome man of about thirty who gazed at Duncan, then at Logan, with cool eyes. "I need to talk to Logan Echolls." Duncan backed up to let him in and motioned to the couch.

Logan glanced at the man and then returned to the game. "Sorry, wrong place for the gay booty call. Try Mr. Magruder in 4C."

"Mr. Echolls, my name is Michael Vaughn," the man stated. "And I need your help to save someone very close to me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thanks to all the great comments, I hope to continue to please you all. Up next: The boyfriends meet while we catch up to the girls.


	8. My Boyfriend's Back and You're Gonna Be

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part eight: My Boyfriend's Back and You're Gonna Be in Trouble….

Logan and Duncan both sat at the couch, staring at the man sitting in a chair before them. Duncan just stared blankly while Logan had a look of bemusement on his face. "Let me get this straight," he said. "We're supposed to buy you're with the CIA and Veronica has been kidnapped by a terrorist working with Wally Goodman to take over Neptune?"

Vaughn nodded.

Logan looked around. "Okay, Ashton, I'm nowhere near famous enough for this! You sure you couldn't get Trina?"

Vaughn shook his head. "I'm going to have to actually watch that show," he muttered under his breath. Sighing, he looked back up to the two men. "Trust me, this is for real. All of it. Veronica and one of our own agents are being held captive and we need some help to recover them."

"All right, making the supreme jump in logic and say we buy all this," Duncan began. "What do you need from us?"

"First," Vaughn said as he looked over to Logan. "We need you to give up your ownership on the house belonging to the grandmother of someone called…Weevil?"

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I'm supposed to give up a prime real estate location?"

"We've read the reports," Vaughn said. "That place is barely worth the price you paid for it. We're willing to double the offer."

Logan shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. It's a point of pride for me."

"Pride?"

"Yeah, Brownie burnt down my house, I buy his grandma's. Sort of a Circle of Life thing."

"Dude, come on," Duncan urged. "This is Veronica we're talking about."

"And yet I'm paralyzed with little caring."

"I'll make this simpler," Vaughn calmly stated as he leaned forward. "You help us out and in return we won't take away your money. How's that?"

Logan's smirk froze on his face. "You…you can't do that."

"Actually, yeah, we can," Vaughn off-handily said. "We're the government, we can do most anything we want. Now, we're making you a decent offer and personally, I'd take it. Because the alternative is that you're going to be discovering the lovely opportunities available in the fast food and retail industries."

Logan slowly licked his lips. "You know, I'm almost positive there's a lawsuit in all this."

"And I'm positive the Patriot Act can be invoked," the agent replied, refusing to give any ground.

Logan bit his lip and finally threw up his hands. "Fine, fine. I bow to the juggernaut, you happy?" He shook his head and rubbed at his face. "You think I would have enough with my mother killing herself and my father in jail for killing my girlfriend who, oh yes, he was sleeping with!"

Duncan snorted. "Hey, don't play the horrible parent card with me, buddy. My parents actually thought I was capable of killing my own sister and hired a guy to confess to the murder and thus completely screw up the investigation. And, oh yeah, your dad also tried to kill my girlfriend."

Vaughn was quiet for a moment before speaking. "My dad was killed by a KGB agent who was the mother of my girlfriend. When I thought she was dead, I married another woman who turned out to be a double agent who killed a few people and whose own mother was an agent who killed her own husband and I ended up putting a couple of bullets into my wife's chest."

The two teens stared at him, then at each other. "He wins," Duncan stated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The room in the small office building was tight as Vaughn, Duncan and Logan entered. Jack was leaning over a table, looking over the shoulders of Mac and Marshall, who were working at a pair of laptops. Keith was sitting at the other end of the table, tapping his fingers on the surface. Weevil was leaning on the far wall, observing everyone and two other people, both Vaughn's age, were there, a man and a very attractive woman.

Logan looked at Mac and rolled his eyes. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. She has her own Willow now?"

"Without magic," Mac was quick to retort. "And I'm straight."

Vaughn nodded as he made introductions. "That's Marshall Flinkman, my friend Eric Weiss, Nadia, she's Sydney's sister and Jack Bristow, her father."

Vaughn looked them over and crossed his arms. "Well, after seeing this, I'm so grateful I don't pay taxes."

"For once, richie, I'm with you," Weevil called out.

Duncan brushed past his friend to look to Keith. "How are we doing finding Veronica?"

"We've got a good idea of her location," Jack answered. "But we need a way to get inside without being discovered."

"Which isn't going to be easy," Weiss piped up. "Sark's smart and always has a sharp eye out for any agents."

"Which is why we won't use agents for the distraction," Keith said, nodding toward Weevil.

The biker's face frowned. "Hold up. My boys are good in a ruckus but we ain't soldiers. I didn't get into this to be cannon fodder."

"Aw, come on," Logan said as he lounged in a chair and put his cocky smirk on his face. "It's not like there isn't an endless supply of the Latino nation you can recruit."

Weevil gave him an ugly look that was shared by Nadia. "I happen to be from a Latino nation," she said in her light accent. "So I'd appreciate you keeping such references to yourself."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why's that? Bring back memories of your days as a maid before you lucked into spy school?"

Nadia was out of her seat and her foot was already shooting out. It hooked behind a leg of Logan's chair and pulled. He yelped as he fell onto the floor and Nadia had a heel at his throat. Her eyes were cold as she kept the pressure up. "Think of this as payback for the maids you've had before," she coolly said before backing up.

Weiss leaned in to whisper to Vaughn. "God, I'm loving this woman."

"Buddy," Vaughn whispered back. "Her father is a: our boss and b: a stone-cold killer."

"That just makes it hotter."

Vaughn just rolled his eyes. "Dude, you've totally lost it."

Logan sat up and rubbed his throat. "Okay…bodily harm is not the best way to woo me to help you out."

"We don't have much time," Jack said in a clipped tone. "We are going in blind, which is never good. We don't know how many people Sark may have-----"

"We will soon," Keith stated.

Jack peered at him. "How?"

Keith just gave him that nice little smile. "Oh, I've got my own special operatives…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wallace tried to keep his nerves steady as he rolled the cart down the hotel hallways. He was clad in the uniform of a bellhop and he didn't want to know how Keith had gotten it. _I swear, if it wasn't for you, Ronnie…Man, Dave Chapelle would make a whole routine out of this._ He came to the suite he'd been looking for and knocked on the door.

It opened to reveal a burly looking man in a dark suit who gave Wallace a quick once-over with cold eyes. "Yeah?" he muttered.

Wallace gave his best smile. "Hey, room service!" He moved to push the cart in but the man blocked it. "We didn't order," he stated.

Wallace frowned. "You sure?" He tried to move the cart a bit so one tray was at the forefront. "I got three turkey meals, two steaks, six salads and a small pizza here."

"I said, we didn't order," the man stated. "We only have five people."

"Who is it?" a British voice echoed from the room.

"I'm getting rid of him," the man at the door called back. He pushed the tray away. "I said, we did not order."

Wallace held up a piece of paper and then turned it over and his eyes brightened. "Oh, damn! I thought it was 969, but it's 696!" He laughed and shook his head. "Damn, sorry, bro." He pulled the cart back and walked off. He heard the door shut and immediately pushed the cart as fast as he could to the elevators, wanting to get as far away from that room as possible.

As he did, Wallace's mind was filled with concern. _If that guy's half as nasty as his voice, Ronnie, I'm hoping to hell you're okay._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I am so not okay," Veronica muttered as she shuffled in her chair. Her hands were bound behind her, cuffed together with strips of plastic. Similar bonds were at her ankles and tight belts looped around her waist to make sure she was stuck to the chair. Sydney was seated next to her in exactly the same predicament. Both were now clad in oversized jumpsuits and were barefooted.

"At least Sark had us dressed," Sydney noted.

"So he's a not a perv on top of being a killer and mercenary. I feel sooo much better," Veronica remarked. She took a deep breath and glanced at Sydney. "Tell me we're getting out of this. Lie if you have to."

"We're going to get out of this."

"And you're lying, right?"

"No. I've been in situations a lot worse than this."

Veronica just raised an eyebrow but Sydney gave her a reassuring smile. She could tell that despite Veronica's wit, the teenager was scared. She was in a situation far more severe than any she'd been in before and it was obviously pulling at her nerves. Sydney had indeed been in such situations countless times over the years and she still felt some fear at them. Keeping Veronica from panicking was the only way she could ensure the young woman would be in shape when the time came to make their move.

The door opened and Sark entered. His jacket was off and his sleeves were rolled up as he gave the two women a nod. "Sydney. I trust you're as comfortable as possible?"

"Go to hell."

"I probably will, inevitably," Sark nonchantly replied. "But at least I'll be well rested and rich when I get there."

"Are we here for a reason or are you just making this kidnapping up as you go?" Veronica demanded.

Sark smiled thinly. "I am simply waiting for my employers to get into contact with me. From there, your fate will be in their hands."

"And who are your employers?" Veronica pressed.

Sark's smile remained still. "I'm sorry but I have rules about keeping a confidence."

"Unless you get a better offer," Sydney noted.

Sark gave a half-shrug. "Well, you know my loyalties are flexible. However, one cannot be a professional without some standards. For example, my men were more than willing to have you be tied up stark naked but I insisted you be clothed."

"We were just remarking on your wonderful manners," Veronica sarcastically said. "Maybe ABC can get you for "The Bachelor: 'Psycho Killer Edition.'"

Sark actually chuckled and looked to Sydney. "I must say, this young woman is quite the firecracker, Sydney. I'd suggest recruiting her someday but sadly, I doubt either of you will have a chance for that."

Veronica tried to keep her face calm but knew she wasn't totally succeeding. "I don't suppose there's any chance you'll be willing to tell us just what the deal is here?"

Sark put his hands behind his back. "You must have watched too many old movie serials. I don't do that sort of thing. And even if I did, I'm not the planner here, I'm merely the…" He thought about it. "On-site operator as it were."

Veronica's eyes angrily narrowed at him. "Then answer this. Why the bus? Why kill all those people? We had no idea what was going on there, there was no reason to do that!" Her voice cracked, betraying her anger at what Sark had done.

The man was silent and Sydney could swear he actually seemed…sorry. "Yes…yes, that was an unfortunate incident. I didn't want to happen, truly."

Both Sydney and Veronica stared at him in surprise. "You…what?" the agent asked, her eyes wide.

Sark sighed. "I had asked a couple of my men to follow the bus, to tail and try to find information about who was on so we may be able to keep an eye on them in private and see what they knew." He scowled suddenly. "However, they saw the bus driver speaking to a police officer at that gas station and leapt to the wrong conclusions. So, they took it upon themselves to ambush it on the hill and force it off the cliff."

Both women were stunned by this revelation. "What…what happened to these guys?" Veronica quietly asked.

Sark just stared at her with hard eyes and Veronica swallowed hard. "Okay," Sydney slowly stated. "So you're somewhat off the hook for that. But you're still in it with Cell 17."

Sark just shrugged. "One does what one must to live, my dear." He moved to the door and threw them a small smile. "I do hope you can still live by that idea." He then exited.

Veronica slowly turned her head to look at Sydney. "So…any ideas?"

Sydney pursed her lips. "All we can do is hope my dad and the team can find us quickly."

"Ah," Veronica said. "So, we're counting on the resources and intelligence of the CIA?"

"Pretty much."

"Great. We're so dead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wallace leaned over Marshall's shoulder as the young man brought photos onto his computer screen. "That little camera on the tray did its job?" the black youth asked.

"Yep," Marshall said as he showed the photos of the room. They weren't the best quality but they did give a good view of the room and the men inside.

"You said there were five?" Jack pressed.

Wallace nodded. He had changed out of the bellhop uniform and now wore jeans and a dark shirt. "Yep. Not counting Veronica and her pal."

Still, that's five well-trained and armed men," Vaughn said. "We'd have to take them down fast in order to save the girls."

"So, we're going in?" Keith pressed, her tension obviously high.

Jack nodded as he looked over the group. "Let's go over the plan."

Marshall grinned and leaned in toward Mac. "He loves doing this. He's so damn cool at it."

Mac shuffled in her chair. "Let's just hope it works."

"Don't worry, we always pull it off. Not textbook perfect, of course."

"Oh. Then it's perfect for Veronica."

Sitting in his chair nearby, Logan rolled his eyes and reflected on the fact that if his father had received a script like this, he wouldn't have given it the dignity of using it to line a birdcage.


	9. Any Resuce You Can Walk Away From

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part nine: Any Rescue You Can Walk Away From…

The clerk behind the desk at the hotel looked up and stiffened a bit as he saw Logan Echolls saunter in. He knew who he was of course. Everyone in Neptune did after all the press given to him and his father. He tried to put on his best smile as the man came up. "Mr. Echolls. What can I do for you?"

"Well, you can start by getting a suite ready," Logan said as he leaned on the desk. "As you may have heard, I'm experiencing a housing shortage and shocking as it sounds, it seems 'Extreme Makeover' doesn't do anything for the upper tax bracket. And as I am planning some debauchery my roomies don't want around, I need a place for the night."

"Certainly," the clerk said as he looked over the computer. "Just you?"

"At the moment," Logan said. "But I am expecting some…ah…friends over later." He slid a small wad of $100 bills on the desk. "I'm hoping they won't have any problems getting up to my room."

The clerk smiled as he quickly pocketed the money. "No problems at all, Mr. Echolls." He quickly typed on the computer and presented Logan with a key. "There you go, room 869. Enjoy your stay."

"I shall, thank you," Logan said as he took the key and marched off, hoisting the bag on his shoulder. "Wasn't too hard," he muttered under his breath.

"Don't get cocky," Jack's voice crackled into his ear.

"Wow, you really don't know him," Duncan's voice echoed.

"Ah, come on," Logan said, adjusting the sunglasses over his eyes as he leaned against the wall next to the elevators and waited for it to arrive. "This doesn't seem as dangerous as you said it'd be."

"Really?" Jack dryly stated. "Perhaps the man sitting by the column might disagree."

Logan's eyes darted toward the man. "Why him?"

"Aside from the fact he hasn't flipped the page of the magazine in the entire time you were talking to the clerk," the elder man stated. "There's a bulge under his right arm that matches the dimensions of a shoulder holster for a Russian-made pistol."

Logan was still for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Okay…um…so, is the room okay?"

"Perfect," Marshall's voice came in. "Just set it up and the guests will be right there."

Logan nodded and hummed under his breath as he stepped into the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The doors to the hotel opened up and two people walked in. Actually, they didn't so much walk in as marched in as if they owned the place. The man was a bit heavyset but good looking, in a stylish pair of jeans, denim shirt, vest and cowboy hat. The woman was dressed in a very skimpy red vinyl miniskirt with a low cut red and black halter that left her belly bare. Her hair was a short red cut that was spiked and colored with blue and purple trails. She followed the man as he came up to the front desk. "Hey there," he said in a voice laced with a trace of a European accent. "We're here for Logan Echolls."

The man looked them over, trying to keep his face straight. "And, ah, you would be?"

"We're here for the party," the woman said, smacking some gum in her mouth as she spoke with an alluring French accent. "That's all you need to know."

The man pursed his lips as he tapped on the computer. "Ah, yes. He's in 869. Did you need any…help with bags?" He looked at the two large black bags the two carried.

"Naw," the man said. "We just got some party favors here." He and the woman shared a wicked smile.

The clerk frowned. "Um…we don't encourage our guests to take their own…refreshments in our establishment."

"Come on, we can handle it!" the woman laughed. She leaned forward, pressing her chest up a bit as she spoke. ""Be a dear, won't you?"

The clerk tried to keep his eyes off her cleavage as he licked his lips. Before he could speak, there was a commotion from the lobby doors. Looking up, the clerk blanched as he saw a pack of young Latinos in dark jeans and leather coats stride in. Their leader marched right over to the desk and leaned on it. "Okay, we can handle this one of two ways," Weevil said without preamble. "You tell us where Logan Echolls is right now or we make a fuss."

The man licked his lips. "Um, I'm not at liberty to say."

Weevil's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Really?" He leaned forward, glaring at the increasingly nervous man. "You at liberty to keep all your limbs intact? Cause we're leaning in that direction right now."

The clerk swallowed. "Okay, I think you should leave."

Weevil kept staring at him before backing up. He looked around the lobby as he spoke out loudly to his gang. "You know, guys, I think we outghta hold our meeting here, don't you? We got a good place to gather, grab a bite to eat, maybe hit the arcade." A wave of nods and words of agreement came from the others. Smiling, Weevil moved to a nearby sofa chair and sat back on it, propping his feet on the table.

"Excuse me," the clerk snapped. "You can't just-----"

"Public place, my friend," Weevil said as he picked up a magazine and started to flip through it. "We've got a right to be here." He snapped his fingers at a waiter who was delivering a tray to the dark-suited man by the pillar. "Yo! Get us some pretzels, ok?"

The clerk frowned as he picked up the phone to call security. He was so intent on the men in the lobby that he didn't fully register how the two strange guests had left the lobby area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe Sydney wears stuff like this so often," Nadia stated as she tugged at her tight top.

Weiss gave her an appraising smile. "Ah, you can work it pretty well."

Nadia returned the smile as they exited the elevator. "Watch it, we're on the clock." They quickly headed to 869 and Nadia knocked on the door. It opened to show Logan, who threw a smirk at them. "Well, hello. I see MTV Europe for the Straight Guy has come to call."

Nadia brushed past him to enter the room, pulling the wig off her head. She spoke softly as she rubbed her ear. ""We're in."

"Okay," Jack said over the line. "Start scanning."

Weiss had opened one of the bags and pulled out what looked like a metal detector. He lifted the round section up to the ceiling and swept it around. In the team's headquarters, Marshall and Mac watched as an image filled their screens, showing the layout of the room above and the shapes of humans colored orange. "We're getting thermal readings," Mac stated.

Marshall looked them over carefully. "Okay…two people sitting down and not moving…I think that's Syd and Veronica."

"Anyone else?" Nadia asked as she opened up the other bag and began to remove a set of small packets of what appeared to be clay.

"One guy walking around near them," Mac answered. "But no one in that immediate area."

"All right," Nadia said as she stood on the bed and molded one of the small packets in her hand. "Tell me where to place them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Veronica tapped her foot on the floor and sighed deeply. "Funny, I never realized just how boring being held captive could be."

"Yeah, I do find myself wishing I had a book," Sydney replied as she shuffled on her chair. "At least we got a bathroom break."

Veronica snorted. "Oh, yeah, having a guy right inside when we do is sooo helpful."

"I've learned from experience to never let Sydney Bristow alone, even if for a moment," Sark stated as he entered the room. He smiled at the agent. "Well, Sydney, it appears your boredom may be alleviated thanks to an unexpected visitor."

Sydney frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Sark snapped his fingers and one of his men came in, pushing Vaughn before him. Vaughn had his hands up, a bruise forming under one cheek and a gun aimed at his back. "Vaughn," Sydney breathed.

He managed a small smile. "Hey. Sorry, thought I had the exit covered."

"I must admit some disappointment, Mr. Vaughn," Sark intoned. "I had expected a bit of a higher caliber rescue than this. Budget cuts hampering you already?"

Vaughn glared at him. "You've got an hour, tops, before this hotel is swarming with agents, Sark. Either give up or get out now."

Sark raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, this does this ridiculous 'surrender now' line you people use every actually work?"

Vaughn shrugged. "You'd be surprised. Some people we meet are actually intelligent."

Veronica let out a loud snicker at that as Sark glared at her. "Your arrival does complicate matters," the man was forced to state. "We'll have to speed up our timetable a bit in order to make this work."

"Too bad," Vaughn said as he carefully moved over so he was standing right next to Sydney. "But at least you've got us together, which is good."

Something in the way he said it caught Sydney's interest. She did her best to hide it before Sark but she did glance at Vaughn. He didn't look back but something in his eyes spoke to Sydney and let her know that the plan was much bigger than Sark imagined.

Sark sniffed. "Please, spare me the romantics, Vaughn. I had enough of that in our last encounter."

"Yeah, you have your own style, Sark," Vaughn said as he tapped his foot twice on the floor. "Maybe we should take that up. You know, love them…and leave them."

He slammed his foot down hard on the floor. In the room below, Nadia and Weiss heard it from their position. They, and Logan, were kneeling on the floor behind one bed, which was propped up on its side. Weiss thumbed the switch on a remote and ducked with the others.

The signal activated the charges inside the small mounds of plastique that were spread in a wide circle on the ceiling. One by one, they went off, chunks of plaster and wallpaper flying about. Above, Veronica couldn't help but let out a surprised yelp as the entire section of floor beneath her, Sydney and Vaughn gave way and collapsed into the room right below.

Vaughn was already moving, a knife pulled from his boot as he quickly cut Sydney and Veronica from the bonds keeping them to their chairs. Above, Sark and the one man inside were both stunned by the unexpected development. That gave Weiss and Nadia the chance to move toward the circle, aiming up and firing with their pistols. The one guard had foolishly leaned over to look down the hall and was blown back by the bullets. Sark, for his part, fell back and crawled into the other room to yell to his men.

Veronica coughed on the cloud of smoke flowing into the room. Her eyes watering, she found herself staring at an unexpected person. "Logan? What the hell…"

The young man couldn't help but smirk. "What can I say? Being the White Knight is good for karma."

"Let's move!" Weiss said as he pushed Veronica forward. "We're only one floor down, Sark's guys are gonna be here any minute."

They piled into the hallway and took off toward the elevators. "Shouldn't we try the stairs?" Sydney asked. "Elevators will take too long."

"Not this time," Nadia said with a smile. Sydney saw why when they came and found one elevator door already open. There was something attached to it that looked like a couple of large harnesses. Nadia reached one and slipped it on. Weiss moved in to grip it with her and without a word, they kicked out and slid down the cable. Sydney held one out for Veronica to slip into. Veronica let herself be attached to the cable and then started as Logan grabbed on. He gave her that cocky grin. "Didn't think you'd be going down with me again, did you?"

Veronica glared at him as they slid down the cable. She couldn't help letting out a yelp of exhilaration at the ride as they landed on the floor of the tunnel. A few moments later, Sydney and Vaughn were right by them. Nadia touched her earpiece and spoke. "We're down. Are we okay for cover?"

"In one minute," Jack answered as he spoke into another line.

In the lobby, a pair of men in security outfits were trying their best to quietly get Weevil and his gang out of the lobby. "Hey, easy, easy," Weevil said as he saw the man by the column suddenly get to his feet and head over toward the elevators. "We just want to see Echolls, have a chat and then we're out of here, okay?"

One security guard gave him a light push. "How about you leave now, pal, before we call the cops?"

Weevil acted like the push was much harder and ran right into the suited man behind him. He swung around, his face hard. "Hey, watch it!"

"Out of way, spic," the man snarled in a rough accent.

Weevil didn't have to fake the anger raging at the slur. To his surprise, it was one of the guards, who happened to be Mexican, who took offense, moving to the suited man. "Hey, apologize!"

The man simply punched the guard and began to head to the elevators and that was all that was needed. In seconds, Weevil and his gang were descending on the man to pelt him with punches and kicks. Other security guards raced in as the clerk watched in dismay and failed to see the flash of lights on the phone from rooms who had heard the explosion.

The elevator doors slid open and Sydney, Vaughn, Veronica, Logan, Nadia and Weiss stole out. In the chaos of the erupting brawl, with guests coming from the lounge and restaurant to see the commotion, they were barely noticed as they raced out toward the exit. Bursting into the open air, they saw a van waiting for them with Keith behind the wheel. The six quickly piled in and Keith didn't even wait for the sliding door to close before peeling off.

Back at the hotel, Sark and his men burst out of the stairway door only to literally run into the brawl. Before Sark knew it, he'd been punched in the face and shoved against a wall. He took his attacker out with a quick series of blows but saw the rest of his men were caught fighting the gang members and heard the wail of incoming sirens. Given the situation, Sark decided it was time for discretion to be the better part of valor and quickly headed back to his room to grab his bag before making his own way out of town.

Inside the van, Veronica heaved for breath, the full impact of what had happened flowing over her. She looked at Sydney and managed a smile. "Wow….all of your…rescues…so interesting?"

Sydney smiled back. "Nah. Just wait till you see one that makes us break into a sweat."

Veronica nodded as she made her way forward to where Keith was driving. He kept his eyes on the road but managed to reach over to stroke her hair. "Hey, baby," he softly said. "You ok?"

Veronica nodded as she fought the tears of relief in her eyes. She moved in and hugged her father the best she could. "I love you," she whispered.

Keith blinked back tears as he whispered. "Who's your daddy?"

"You my daddy," Veronica whispered back and they kept together the entire drive.

Only one more chapter left. Thanks for all the kind words.


	10. Closing a Case, Opening a Door

Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part ten: Closing a Case, Opening a Door

The press conference was in full swing and as usual, Wally Goodman had the crowd in his hand with his jovial manner and good-natured answers. He was smiling brightly with all the confidence of a man who knew his upcoming election was in the bag. He was so eager to answer the questions, he failed to notice the men in suits and pair of uniformed officers entering the banquet room.

"No, no, I promise, there won't be any baseball shaped decorations at my inaugural ceremony," Goodman said to laughter. "And no, sadly, none of the White Sox will be showing up. I am hoping to get Neptune a few more trophies of their own soon."

The laughter was dying down as one of the suited men came up. "Mr. Goodman," he softly said. "We need to talk to you."

Goodman frowned at him. "Buddy, I'm in the middle of a press conference."

"Sir, we'd like to handle this outside, if we can."

"It can wait, I'm being open with the public." Goodman turned to the cameras and smiled. "Sorry, folks, little trouble here, these gentlemen were leaving."

"Yes, we are," the suited man said as he came up behind Goodman and pulled his arms behind him. "Wally Goodman, you are under arrest for insider trading, stock fraud, embezzlement and 16 SEC violations."

"Wha…what is…is this a joke?" Goodman gasped as the man slid a pair of handcuffs around his wrist.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" the agent said as he dragged Goodman away before a startled press corp. Flashbulbs popped and recorded the look of utter dismay on Wally Goodman's face as his entire life unraveled in an instant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Don Lamb was not in a happy mood.

First, he had to deal with reports of some sort of explosion at the Lexington that appeared to have wrecked two rooms. At the same time, he had to send units to break up some riot in the lobby. At first, it seemed a great excuse to get some of those brownie bikers off the streets but then he was informed that he wasn't allowed to book them but instead release them. Finally, the word came that, with no warning at all, Wally Goodman had just been arrested on enough federal charges to not only ruin his campaign but guarantee he'd be in prison until Neptune was a major city.

So all in all, it was not a good day for Don Lamb. Unfortunately, it was about to get worse.

There was a short rap on the door and Lamb growled a quick "Come in." The door swung open and Jack Bristow calmly stepped in. Lamb immediately straightened, licking his lips and trying to quell the fear in his stomach. "Wha…what are you doing here?"

Jack shut the door and stood before the desk. He didn't move but radiated pure threat with his pose. "Mr. Lamb. I came by to let you know how your election is going to go."

"What do you mean?" Lamb asked.

"It's not. You're going to announce you're dropping out for personal reasons."

Despite his fear of Jack, Lamb's anger rose and he stood from the chair. "Not a chance. I don't care who you work for, I'm not going to be pushed out of my job by anyone!"

Jack just narrowed his eyes and Lamb quickly sat back down, the fear once more taking hold of him. "You are going to drop out," Jack said, his tone ice cold. "Because if you do not, then your personal bank account records will become public knowledge. The ones that show you making far more money than a sheriff should. Whatever else you may think, the people in this town aren't total fools. They'll be able to put two and two together about how you're getting those additional funds, at which point, you go from this side of the station to the one with the bars."

He leaned forward and the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "I don't think I need to tell you what kind of reception awaits former law enforcement officers in prison. Even utterly incompetent ones."

Lamb shook in place, trying to keep as much of his dignity as possible. "How…why?"

"Not for the reasons you may think," Jack stated. "Not because you are completely unsuited for this position. Not because you refused to give a girl reporting a rape even the dignity of a fair hearing. Not even because you put my daughter in danger, although that was a contributing factor." He leaned over the desk and pinned Lamb with an icy glare. "It's because I don't like you one bit. So take the easy way out, retire with your gains and in return, not only will you avoid jail but I won't be tempted to kill you."

He rose up and turned to head to the door. "Enjoy your day," he stated as he exited, leaving behind a sheriff trying his best to control his bladder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Veronica smiled as she looked over the newspaper while sitting in the middle of the Neptune High campus. It was a major double headline, one for Goodman's sudden arrest, the other on Lamb's announcement he was dropping out of the race "for health reasons."

"So, how's it feel to be back on the good side of town?" Duncan asked as he came up and gave her a quick kiss.

Veronica smiled back as he sat down before her. "It's good, no doubt about it. Dad is now a total shoo-in and the first order of business is to exonerate the bus driver of responsibility."

Duncan shook his head. "I still can't believe Goodman was dumb enough to leave so much proof on his computer."

"Not that much, actually," Veronica said. "But between Mac and Marshall, they managed to pull together enough from databases to build the case."

"Still feel sorry for him a bit," Duncan said. "He got in over his head and got caught up in something beyond him."

"He still bears responsibility for what happened," Veronica pointed out. "Frankly, he should count himself lucky. This Cell 17 won't go after him now, he's of no use anymore and while the CIA is hoping he'll spill about his connections, I think he's gonna be smarter than that."

"Let's hope," Duncan said. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I wanted to be there. To help you at the hotel but they thought Logan would draw less suspicion."

Veronica gave him a warm smile and leaned over to take his hand. "Hey," she softly said. "It's ok. I'm not falling back with him just because he was stupid enough to almost get killed. I didn't want you involved in this at all." She put a hand to his head. "But when I saw you waiting at that safehouse…I felt almost as good as when I saw my dad." She gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Um, sorry to interrupt." The two broke apart to see Sydney standing in the quad before them.

"Hey!" Veronica said with a happy tone in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Vaughn and I had to tell the principal that we were being transferred to a new assignment," Sydney answered.

"And the female student body's interest in French dives faster than the Governor's approval ratings," Duncan dryly noted.

Sydney chuckled at that and looked to Veronica. "I just wanted to stop by and say goodbye. I promise, you'll be looked after. Discretely," she said quickly to cut off Veronica's objection. "We're pretty sure that with Goodman going down, Cell 17 won't be interested in you anymore but we'll want to be sure. Hey, I promised to keep you safe."

"I can look after myself," Veronica said.

Sydney nodded. "Yeah, I know that." She looked around. "I was hoping to run into Mac before I went but I haven't seen her."

"She took a personal day," Veronica said. "Apparently, Marshall gave her some new super-duper laptop and she's going to do things with it that I rather hope aren't the type that can be done with machinery."

Sydney laughed. "Marshall has that talent." She extended a hand to Veronica. "It was good to meet you, Veronica Mars."

"You too, Sydney Bristow." Veronica shook back and then frowned at the look on Sydney's face. "You ok?"

Sydney bit her lip. "I didn't want to say this but…well, my boss…" It was clear to Veronica Sydney had some major issues with Sloane. "He wanted me to tell you that maybe when you're done with college, you should consider giving the CIA a try."

Veronica was thrown as Sydney quickly went on. "Look, this is not an easy life. What you went through was pretty easy compared to the stuff I've done in the past. It's hard, it's killer, it can destroy you in more ways than one." She paused and shrugged. "But it's your choice. And to tell the truth, you do have a talent for it."

Veronica paused and shook her head. "I doubt it. I think the private eye life may be the closest to action gal I get. I'd rather be Nancy Drew than Agent 99."

Sydney smiled. "Smart woman." She nodded to Duncan and then back to Veronica. "Good luck with your life."

"See you around," Veronica said. She watched Sydney walk away and sighed as she turned to Duncan. "And so closes the second-craziest caper in my life."

Duncan draped an arm around her as they stood up. "How about a private party at my place tonight?"

"Hmm, me likey," Veronica said with a grin. They began to walk off. "Will Logan be there?"

"I believe he'll be enjoying that bonus the CIA gave him," Duncan said. "And Weevil's going to be helping his grandma move back into her home."

"Ah, then it'll party all the time by us," Veronica said as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Um, scuse me?" The two looked up to see a sophomore boy with greasy hair, torn jeans and shirt standing before them. "Um, you're Veronica Mars, right? I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

Veronica and Duncan exchanged a look and Duncan smiled. "Go on. We both know you love it."

Veronica kissed him quickly and faced the young man. "Ah, back to normal."

**THE END**


End file.
